Family
by In Smithereens
Summary: After Remus' sister dies he and Sirius begin to raise his niece, after Sirius goes to Azkaban they try to forget him, but in her fifth year at Hogwarts she begins to seek him out. Pairings: RLSB, OC/undecided.


Author's Note: A new series, just what I need when I have over ten to update! This is the first OC fic I've written since my days as a terrible sue-author on Quizilla, so advice would be great.

Disclaimer: If you recognise it, I don't own it. I do own Anna and Sylvia though.

The house was silent when Sirius opened the door. In normal circumstances this would be fine, but in those days nobody was safe, especially Remus. He raised his wand and closed the door.

"Remus?" There was no response and he walked through the rooms of the tiny house they shared. The kitchen was a mess, as was their bedroom, but there was no sign of life. He entered the living room and exhaled, his heartbeat slowing from the staccato beat it had been beating in. Remus was asleep on the couch, his chest rising and falling and a blanket covering him. Of course, it was only a few days after the full moon; there was nothing strange about Remus catching up on sleep. He turned to move back into the hall and take off his boots, trying to avoid one of Remus' lectures about tracking mud (and often blood and slime) through the house.

"Boo!" He jumped at the tiny voice and spun around, trying to pinpoint where it was coming from. A small face peeked out from behind the couch. "Siri, play with me!" She clambered out from behind the couch and grabbed his hand.

"Anna, what are you doing here?" He asked the three year old as he crouched down to her height, or nearer her height.

"U'cle Remy is looking after me." She beamed at him and he smiled back. "But he's asleep cos of the moon." She gave him a long look, which was rather unnerving coming from someone so small. "Will you play with me?"

"Of course Anna-banana, do you want to go to the playground? We can get ice lollies." They were in the midst of a heat wave and though the house he and Remus shared was nice, it didn't allow for proper ventilation due to the wards put on the windows.

"Yeah, is Remy gonna come?" She dragged him out into the hall and sat on the steps to put on her shoes.

"Nah, let him sleep. And if he doesn't come we'll be able to have two ice lollies each."

"I'm gonna have ten!" She grinned, holding up her hands so he could count her ten fingers.

"Well I'm gonna have eleven!" Sirius stuck his tongue out at her.

"Twelve!"

"Thirteen!"

"Twenty!" He stopped at that.

"Good idea, so your shoes are done up? Let me do a sun block spell on you and we can go." He pressed his wand to her arm and said the charm, she giggled as it worked over her skin.

"She needs her hat," called Remus from the living room.

"Great, where would that be?" Sirius called back.

"On the hat stand."

"Logical. Okay, I've found it, beneath what looks like a felt bowl of some kind… We really need to talk about what you are and are not allowed to wear."

"Lovely."

"Bye Rem," Sirius called.

"Bye Rem," Anna echoed.

The park was packed with muggle families, so they walked with their lollies, through the fields that linked the playgrounds and led around the river, Anna chattering all the way. When they came to a playground that didn't have queues leading to the swings and climbing frame they went in to play, Sirius pushing her on the swings and lifting her up to swing on the monkey bars. But after a while Anna's eyes started to droop and Sirius hoisted her up to his shoulders, grinning at the women eyeing him appreciatively. This child thing seemed to drive women crazy; they kept smiling at him and starting conversations, talking about arranging 'play dates' between their children and Anna. Or else being a mother was very lonely. He would have to ask Lily which it was.

When they arrived back at the house he put Anna on the couch to sleep and went into the kitchen to see Remus.

"You want tea?" He asked, filling the kettle with water. Remus shook his head and smiled.

"It's thirty eight degrees out there and you want a hot beverage?"

"I heard that you have to eat hot stuff in the heat, to get your body used to it."

"Where did you hear that?" Remus laughed. Sirius shrugged his shoulders.

"I dunno, I thought you said it." He opened the fridge and his eyes widened. "Did someone reverse-burgle us?" He asked, gesturing to the huge amount of food inside.

"Molly brought it 'round, she doesn't think we can fend for ourselves, especially with Anna around." Remus sat down at the table and gestured for Sirius to do the same. "There was an attack at Diagon alley last week, five death eaters against Sylvia, Gideon and Fabian. They didn't make it."

"You okay?"

"They were in the order; we knew it might happen… But Anna…" He trailed off.

"Lost her mum and dad. Does she know? Would she understand?"

"I don't know… She thinks they've gone somewhere. Molly didn't think it was a good idea to say a lot. Just to keep things normal for her."

"Are you adopting her? Can you, with your condition?"

"Sylvia and Gideon named me in their will; you know how she felt about the movement." Sylvia had been campaigning for werewolf rights and had even written a book on the subject, using her brother as an example. "Dumbledore got it through the ministry, she has to stay with Molly during the full moon and we'll be subject to random visits to make sure she's okay. But we've got her."

"So we're parents… weird feeling. What are we doing about the order?"

"I'm not going on missions anymore, it's not like I was much help before anyway. And she deserves someone who isn't risking their life… even if it is a good cause. But you shouldn't, they need you."

"You sure?"

"James still fights, and Lily's okay with that. Just don't take any of your famed stupid risks."

"Parents, huh?"

A/N: The next chapter will speed forward to Anna's life at Hogwarts, with her in fifth year during POA. I used Gideon as her father because I wanted her to have a link to another canon family (and a trusted one for the adoption issues) and used him rather than Fabian because I didn't want to warp canon too much, since Harry was given Fabian's watch in DH, so he wouldn't have had children for it to go to. Sylvia was Remus' sister and was five years older than him.

Reviews would be nice as I need advice on the whole adopted at three thing. Would she even remember her parents when she got older? Would she call Remus 'dad'? Also, did I write her dialogue well? I have a niece who is almost five so based it a lot on her, but can't remember what she was like at three, which makes me a terrible aunt!


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